Mel Stringer

Back in May I made my first purchase on etsy; a couple of hand-illustrated zines from Mel Stringer's Little Shop. I've been meaning to post about them, as I enjoyed them so much. I've been following her blog for a little while now, and her drawings are so delicate and beautiful and moreish (strange word, but it's true).

'Telephone & Me' and 'Make It Better' by Mel Stringer

Then, a couple weeks ago I received a lovely little parcel containing an exciting assortment of goodies.
At the time when I bought the zines I think she was a bit swamped with everything, and as a result she was a little behind on orders. So she sent me this parcel as an apology! I was so shocked and touched! It's such a nice gesture. I think everyone should go give her a visit and some love for being so kind and generous.

Birthdays

It's been a while, and I have lots to blog about, but I won't do it all at once.
For now, I'll just post a couple of birthday cards I've made for people recently.
I quite like them. They were really nice to draw. I like the simplicity. They're much more delicate than my usual.

[model: Arnie, my mum's adolecent kitten] - [materials: black biro + cartridge paper]

JuliePeach!

The lovely Julie over at Peach Picking has featured me on her blog!

How sweet of her. I thought I would return the favour by featuring her on mine.

I've had a browse and she has some beautiful, customisable items on her etsy shop juliepeach.

Such bright colours and quirky designs. I especially love the hand illustrated pear blossom tea towel (bottom right). Have a look for yourself. They would all make really lovely gifts.

 

 

What I Wore Today

It's taken me a while to get around to updating this blog, I thought after college was over I'd have some spare time, but it's been a non-stop bombardment of activity. Nevermind, it'll do me some good. I get lazy when I haven't got much on.

I fancied a little drawing of oneself. I forgot to include the big spot currently housed on my face.

This is for this Flickr group and for practise and for great fun and for the sake of it.

Finally!

It is complete.

We hung our show at the college and our private view was last week.

This is my submission, which, when combined with prep work, is worth 40% of my overall mark;

I designed and produced a set of 10 packs of temporary tattoos.

The idea behind these was to use the medium of temporary tattoos in a way that trancends mere images on the body. I wanted to combine ironic humour with thoughtful juxtapositions which may baffle and confuse some and at the same time enlighten and inspire others. These are not about random images, each tattoo has a meaning, yet it is the wearer and the viewer who decide on it's intended meaning.

I was very pleased to receive a Distiction grade for this, which is the highest grade available! 

An unlimited supply of all these tattoos are for sale on my etsy site:

www.etsy.com/shop/fancybus

I also hope to make more versions in the future.

For more pictures of the private view, and my fellow students work visit my class blog at:

eyespywithmyeye.blogspot.com

What I Wore Today

I do enjoy drawing myself. Always have.

I drew this three times before I could do the hands half quarter decent. They still look piss poor.

It has come to my attention that these drawings could be an extremely valuable exercise for me and I shall therefore be continuing this interesting and entertaining venture forthwith.
I won't upload them all here, just a few every now and again. They'll all be on my Flickr, for the ingenious group which started the whole thing off.

Anatomy is important.

What I Wore Today

What I Wore Today

I've been drawing non-stop these last few days, but purely for college. I just fancied drawing something unrelated. This is for this Flickr group. I've been feeling really positive recently, I hope it lasts. I'll post some of my college drawings soon, once I've sorted them all out..

Nice Things from the Month of May

Beautiful tree I noticed when walking home from town.

Drawing on my fingertips for my final project at college. It was really tricky trying to take a photo of all my fingers, and I was too lazy to set up a tripod.

I found this photo of Neuschwanstein Castle on this blog, and I thought it was absoloutely beautiful. The other photos are just as lovely. This German castle was the inspiration behind Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. I'd prefer to visit the real thing. Look at those mountains!

Yesterday was so sunny! We have makeshift doubleglazing on our drafty sash windows (a sheet of plastic nailed up every winter) and I haven't taken mine down yet. The sun was so bright yesterday that it left little shadows of the plastic men who stand on my window. I've never noticed it happen before. I was staring at it for ages, it's was so nice.

Our tiny, orange toilet room has patterned glass which also casts a beautiful shadow.

It's back to rain now, though. I love rain. I don't know why people always groan when I cheer to forecasts of rain. A week of sun is lovely, but last year's three solid months of sun was too much. And I heard people say it was 'a disappointing summer'! What!? I'd never do well in places which are sunny all year round. I'd go insane. I'd really miss storms.

Don't Open The Window

"There's a bluebird on my shoulder...

It's the truth, it's actual,

Everything is satisfactual..."

We have a bluebird nesting in a bird box under our bathroom window.

We have a feeling that the ones that came last year were scared off when the window was opened, so I made a little sign just in case. The little chick is so noisy, twittering all the time! Everytime I go in there, theres a bird on the windowsill. I caught him in the bottom photo - just a little dark shape behind the glass.

I'm surprised the noise from next door doesn't scare them off. If I was that bird, there'd be a million other places I would nest.

Senbazuru

During Easter I got a bit obsessed with folding origami cranes.

In Japan, the crane is a holy creature and ancient legend says that anyone who folds one thousand cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as a long life or recovery from an illness. They are strung together and given to people for luck and such. I love them, they are so beautiful. I just want to hang them everywhere.

I was originally inspired by this photo:

[source]

The cranes above are slightly different to mine, there seems to be a couple of ways to do it.
I used animated instructions, which makes it much easier to understand. I have a book of origami which I've never understood - it's so much easier when you're shown.

It is really therapeutic once you get into a rhythm and stop looking at the instructions for guidance. I don't think I'll ever forget it now. I only got up to about 50 in total. Not sure what to do with them. Gifts, perhaps?

These are just a few of my favourites. I folded these from magazine pages, which causes some lovely coincidences, like the second-to-last one, who is almost entirely sky blue except for a black neck and white beak. It's almost as if I did it like that on purpose.

I love them all, they are such individual characters! Like pieces of art.

I'm on the last project of my course now and everythings coming to an end very soon.

After that, I've got no guidance, which is a scary thought.

Family Portraits

I recently did some drawings of members of my family for a project on identity.
Here are a few:

I still have quite a few to do. These are just my favourite of the ones I've done so far.
I'd like to do my friends as well, just for fun.

I can smell my dinner cooking, so that's my que to skadoosh.

Procrastination

I think too much. I need to DO more.

Come along, sunshine.

I'm so bored of this weather. I want spring now, please.